PREVIEW: Cheltenham Town

Swindon Town and a travelling army of about 1,800 fans will travel to Whaddon Road this Saturday to take on local rivals Cheltenham Town.

Swindon Town have sold out their entire away allocation for this fixture.

Tonw will start this match in a new third kit which is black and red.

"On the transfer front we are slightly further forward than we were at the weekend.

"However, as usual, teams are hoarding their players and over-valuing them.

"It is a difficult situation to be dealing with but we will soldier on - and hopefully before deadline day we will have the players we need in place.

"I had another conversation with the new owners on Monday and I have been led to believe that if certain players became available there would be money to spend."

Swindon Town Boss Paul Sturrock on his search for new players ahead of Saturday's match

Cheltenham Town saw an influx of players leave the club at the end of last season including Kayode Odejayi, JJ Melligan, Steve Guinan, Craig Armstrong, Michael Whittinton and Shane Paul. Cheltenham started their season well beating Gillingham 1-0 in their first game of the season. Since the win Cheltenham lost 4-1 to Southend in the Carling Cup and lost 1-0 to Millwall at the New Den last Saturday. Cheltenham are one of the favourites for relegation this season after having the highest ever finish in The Football League last season.

Gillespie is well known to Swindon Town fans as he used to play for local rivals Bristol City. Gillespie has started the season well, starting both games for The Robins and has scored 1 goal so far this season. He will be looking to up that tally against Swindon.

Town have started this season above all expectations. Town were expected to lose heavily last Saturday to Luton Town however the team had enough self belief and won in the 88th minute. Steve Adams will likely be fit for this game after featuring for the reserves however will most likely start on the bench with Craig Easton getting the nod ahead of him after scoring last Saturday. Barry Corr and Ady Williams are still out injured and will not feature.

Christian started last season well however his performances dropped as the season went on. Roberts looks to have re-invented himself again this season and found the form that won him the League 2 player of the month award in September last season. If Roberts performs how he did in the second half of last Saturday's match he will be a hard to stop.

COMING Swindon Town have never beat Cheltenham Town in a league match. In fact Swindon have never scored a goal against Cheltenham. Swindon will be looking to improve this time and finally get a win along with some goals.

The last time the 2 teams played each other was on Wednesday 12th March where Swindon lost 3-0 to Cheltenham. Martin Devaney, substitute Damien Spencer and John Brough scored the goals for Cheltenham. Grant McCann of Cheltenham was red carded in the 83rd minute of this match.

The last time the teams played Andy Gurney and Matt Heywood gestured towards the travelling away support after getting some abuse from the travelling fans. Heywood and Gurney were both made to apologise to the fans.

Heywood currently plays for League Two side Brentford whilst Gurney retired due to consistant ankle injuries last season.

K Stroud will be the official for this local derby. R Beale and A Matthews will be the assistant referees for this match. The Fourth Official will be S Snartt.

With a big away following I truly believe that Swindon Town will win this game. I will predict a 2-0 victory for Swindon.

Coca Cola League One: Swindon Town V Crewe Alexandra, Saturday 1 September 2007, 3pm Kick off at the County Ground.

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